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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24011101">Tell Myself to Breathe</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/thesirensong/pseuds/thesirensong'>thesirensong</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Sanders Sides (Web Series)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Academic Pressure, Gen, anxiety attack, its brief and only one mention, past bad parenting, virgil is a good dad confirmed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 23:16:06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,061</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24011101</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/thesirensong/pseuds/thesirensong</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Virgil is so, so proud of his son, but Patton can’t seem to see what there is to be proud of. So he gives some advice from his own experiences.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Anxiety | Virgil Sanders &amp; Morality | Patton Sanders, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Deceit | Janus Sanders</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>68</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Tell Myself to Breathe</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Wrote for when Virgil's playlist dropped. It's very soft and I love it.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The day had been productive. Virgil had cleaned up the living room, gotten dinner prepped to be started when Dee got home, got the chore calendar set up for when the twins got home from elementary school, and he even managed to finish a commission.</p>
<p>Now he was just waiting for his kids to get home, and then later his husband. There was about an hour left before his oldest finished his after school things, and Virgil was fully intending to spend that time taking a nap.</p>
<p>The door opening and then slamming closed two minutes later was <em>not</em> something he was expecting.</p>
<p>Virgil sat up on the couch, frowning in concern when he saw Patton leaning against the door a painfully neutral expression.</p>
<p>“Hey Pat, don’t you have a club meeting today?” he asked, wanting to get up and go to him but deciding to give him space if he needed it.</p>
<p>Patton tensed a little, and the smile he gave Virgil was so fake his heart ached in his chest.</p>
<p>“Yeah, I did but I got a little drained. Hard to garden when you’re exhausted, ya know?” he said.</p>
<p>The cheer in his voice was even more fake than his smile.</p>
<p>“Yeah, I get being tired. Wanna take a nap with me? We can have a cuddle session and you can brag to Dad later,” he offered, giving Patton the most reassuring smile he could.</p>
<p>Virgil watched as Patton hesitated, and his concern skyrocketed when he shook his head.</p>
<p>“No thanks, Pa, I think I’m just gonna go to my room for now.”</p>
<p>Fuck, Patton was really upset if he was turning down cuddle time.</p>
<p>“Okay, kiddo. Let me know if you need anything okay?”</p>
<p>Patton nodded, and Virgil watched as he made his way up the stairs until he heard the door shut.</p>
<p>He was planning on just letting Patton decide how he needed to calm down, planning on leaving him alone for a while no matter how worried he was because Patton deserved to figure out what he needed on his own.</p>
<p>Virgil couldn’t help but regret that decision when he a series of thumps followed by a heavier thud and a sob coming from Patton’s room.</p>
<p>“Patton?” he called, scrambling off the couch and shooting up the stairs until he was opening the bedroom door in a panic.</p>
<p>His son was sitting on the bed, fingers buried in his hair and his textbooks and notebooks in a pile on the floor.</p>
<p>That explained the smaller thumps, but what about the thud?</p>
<p>Virgil glanced in Patton’s immediate area as he approached him, stopping at the edge of the mattress. He couldn’t find the source, but it wasn’t really something he was worried about right now.</p>
<p>“Hey Pattoff, you don’t look so hot there, wanna tell me what’s wrong?” Virgil asked softly, wanting to sit down but not wanting to invade his son’s space.</p>
<p>Patton jerked, pulling his head from his hands to look at Virgil and- <em>oh</em>.</p>
<p>He recognized that look. That was an anxiety attack reaching it’s peak.</p>
<p>“Oh, <em>Patton,</em>” he said softly, sitting on the very edge of the mattress and tentatively opening his arms.</p>
<p>Patton stared at him, hiccuping as a sob struggled to escape him, and Virgil just waited patiently.</p>
<p>It felt like eternity before Patton’s surprise crumpled and he sobbed again, pushing himself away from Virgil and wrapping his arms around himself.</p>
<p>Virgil pushed back the urge to pull Patton into a hug anyway. He deserved the right to choose what he wanted right now, he wasn’t gonna be like his parents and disregard his son’s boundaries.</p>
<p>“Okay, no hugs. But we gotta get you calmed down Pat,” he said, wincing when Patton sobbed again.</p>
<p>God, he always hated seeing when his kids were upset.</p>
<p>“Gonna need you to listen to me, Pat. Force all of the air out of your lungs,” he started, smiling softly when Patton didn’t hesitate to listen, “and then breathe in for one, two, three, four…”</p>
<p>He kept going, guiding Patton through the four, seven, eight breathing exercise until his breathing was shaky but even.</p>
<p>Patton wiped at his eyes, sniffling and staring at his lap. He didn’t say anything, but that’s okay, Virgil could talk first.</p>
<p>“That looked like a pretty bad anxiety attack, bud. Do you wanna tell me about it?”</p>
<p>Quiet, and then Patton shook his head.</p>
<p>Virgil nodded, shifting until he was sitting on his sons bed with his legs crossed in front of him.</p>
<p>“Okay, that’s fine. Wanna tell me what the really loud thud was earlier?”</p>
<p>Patton wiped at his eyes again, then pointed in Virgil’s direction, prompting him to turn around and see the school issued tablet on the ground, screen cracked and a dent in the wall it collided with.</p>
<p>Oof, that’s gonna be expensive to replace.</p>
<p>“Got frustrated with the anxiety huh? Did you get another book assignment with no audio reader?” he asked, turning back to his son.</p>
<p>Patton’s face scrunched up a little bit, and he shrugged.</p>
<p>Virgil sighed, leaning forward until Patton’s eyes were on his face, his glasses on the mattress next to him so he was squinting a bit.</p>
<p>“It’s okay. I can understand being frustrated with school, and you’ve got a whole slew of bullshit I didn’t have to deal with. Is that what happened just now? School shit?”</p>
<p>Patton’s lips twitched in a restrained laugh at Virgil’s swearing, but they quickly settled at his question.</p>
<p>“…Yeah,” he croaked, face twisting before he cleared his throat.</p>
<p>Virgil opened his arms again.</p>
<p>“How about a fuck school solidarity hug? And then later when your dad gets home, we’ll talk about a system to help you with that anxiety, yeah?”</p>
<p>He watched as Patton debated with himself, rubbing at his eyes one more time before putting his glasses back on.</p>
<p>There may or may not have been an internal sigh of relief when Patton eventually crawled into his lap, and Virgil squeezing his son until he squeaked was <em>not</em> something he could help.</p>
<p>At least this was something Virgil knew more or less how to help with. Anxiety sucked, and he had no idea of Patton had it as bad as he did, but he could help.</p>
<p>And that’s all Virgil really wanted, to help his son live his life and love it too.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>
  <a href="https://discord.gg/7BmynET">I also have a discord server!!</a>
</p></blockquote></div></div>
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